Saudi airports attacked; Houthis claim strikes as Yemen conflict escalates

Three people died when Iran-backed Houthi rebels struck two of Saudi Arabia's busiest airports on Wednesday, marking a sharp escalation in a conflict that had held relatively steady for four years. The attacks hit Abha airport in the kingdom's southwest and King Khalid International Airport near Riyadh, the capital. A Moroccan and an Algerian were killed at Abha, along with 28 others wounded. A Sudanese national died at King Khalid, where eight more were injured. Saudi authorities confirmed the deaths but did not initially assign blame; the Houthis, however, claimed the strikes almost immediately, with military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree saying the rebels had launched ballistic missiles and drones at both targets. Saudi air defenses intercepted at least one ballistic missile north of Riyadh, and flights were briefly disrupted.

The attacks are part of a broader campaign by the Yemen-based rebels to strike at Saudi economic and military power. This week, new cage-like protective barriers went up around fuel tanks and equipment belonging to Saudi Aramco, the state oil company, near Riyadh airport—a visible sign of how deeply the kingdom's critical infrastructure now feels threatened. The Houthis have explicitly stated their strategy: by targeting civilian assets like oil facilities and airports, they aim to impose economic costs severe enough to force Saudi Arabia to meet their demands. About 12 percent of global trade moves through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a chokepoint the Houthis have been working to control, and their ability to disrupt shipping there gives their military operations outsized economic weight.

The current fighting erupted after the Houthis seized territory along Yemen's Red Sea coast and around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait roughly a month ago. In response, Saudi Arabia and allied Yemeni government forces launched a major ground and air offensive to retake those positions. By Monday, coalition forces said they had recaptured several key areas around the strait. The fighting has centered on the town of Dhubab, about 33 miles south of the port city of Mokha, which the Houthis had seized. Two Houthi officials claimed Wednesday that the rebels had regained control of Dhubab, the nearby village of Al-Jadid, and the strait itself after intense fighting, though a Yemeni government official denied this and the claims could not be independently verified. The Houthis also alleged that Saudi forces had struck civilian targets over the previous 24 hours in Sanaa, Yemen's capital, as well as in Taiz, Jawf, Saada, and Marib.

The Houthis struck Aden as well, Yemen's second-largest city and seat of the internationally recognized government. Early Wednesday morning, around 2 a.m., explosions were heard near Aden's airport. The rebels fired ballistic missiles at a military camp close to the airport, and according to security authorities there, also targeted the airport itself with two missiles. One struck near the runway just before a flight from Cairo was scheduled to land. That flight, operated by Yemen's national airline, touched down safely at 3:30 a.m. Another missile hit as passengers waited to board a flight to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. No casualties were reported from the Aden strikes.

This escalation has shattered a ceasefire that had held for four years. The human toll is already severe: the United Nations reports that nearly 1,000 people have been killed in the latest fighting, with more than 200,000 displaced. The World Health Organization warned this week that cholera and malnutrition cases are rising, access to trauma care is deteriorating, and some hospitals are running short of surgical supplies and other critical materials. Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi used the occasion to criticize Saudi support for Yemen's government forces and to express solidarity with Gaza on the third anniversary of Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, saying the rebels stood ready to support Palestinians in any new escalation with Israel.

The Saudi-led coalition, which includes 100 fighter jets in active support, has vowed to continue operations until the Houthis are eliminated and to liberate Sanaa, the rebel-held capital. The United States has provided intelligence sharing, target identification, and planning support to the coalition effort. The Houthis, backed by Iran, have positioned themselves as a force capable of imposing real costs on one of the world's largest oil exporters and a key U.S. ally in the Middle East. What began as a localized struggle over territory in Yemen has become a direct threat to Saudi Arabia's most vital economic assets and to one of the world's most critical shipping lanes.